[LINK] Bitcoins, "Investment of Money," and Law

post by TimS · 2013-08-08T19:33:07.461Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 0 comments

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A federal magistrate judge in Texas issue a decision on Tuesday that "Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money." More discussion on the legal reasoning is here. 

Some context from reading the decision: A promoter offered a profit if investors gave him Bitcoins. The Securities and Exchange Commission asserts that the promoter made false or misleading statements as part of this scheme (which is illegal). 

The promoter asserted the scheme was not within the authority of the SEC because it was not a "security." (Everyone agrees that the SEC can only regulate securities). To the surprise of (hopefully) no one, the judge ruled that the promoter's conduct was covered by the SEC. Specifically, the court found that the scheme was an "investment contract." One of the elements of an investment contract is that there is an "investment of money." 

Thus, the case is potentially interesting to BitCoiners because of the judge's reasoning about why Bitcoins can be characterized as an investment of money.

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